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[youlosetrack]

It's ridiculous, how gorgeous this island is.

As soon as he'd found himself steady enough on the crutches to go more than a few feet away from the compound door, Mace had slowly spent each day going up and down the boardwalk, taking in everything he could.

The earth room on Icarus had nothing on Tabula Rasa. Hell, Earth had nothing on it. The

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[a_real_viking]

He could hear Toothless above him, the slight rustle of tree branches the only sign that the dragon was nearby. Hiccup, meanwhile, was down on the ground, testing a new prosthetic. He'd thought that adding a more complex ankle joint would have been a favor but, instead, he was wobbling like a teenage girl in high heels. More than once, his foot tried to slide out from him.

Seeing the patio seats, Hiccup thought this was as good a time as any to admit defeat on this particular design. "Hey, any room over there?" he called.

[youlosetrack]

Mace watches the kid for a few amused moments, eyes tracking his jerky movements. He moves like Mace imagines a newborn calf must, but the amusement dies away when he sees the reason for the kid's movements.

He's too tired to feel guilty about it, and he thinks of Tunny.

"Sure," he says, and nudges one of the open chairs beside him with his good leg. "Plenty of it."

[a_real_viking]

Seeing the direction of his gaze, Hiccup didn't bother to be delicate. Instead, he plopped down in the next seat and bent over his own knee, experimentally tightening the screws.

"I'm Hiccup," he added, looking up at him.

[youlosetrack]

Sometimes, for all that he likes to rag on Tunny, he feels like a real dick for missing what he doesn't have anymore. What the fuck is half a thumb compared to a whole leg?

And now here's this skinny kid, walking around like missing a leg is no big deal.

Jesus.

"Mace," he replies, and he watches, unsure what to make of the metal prosthetic.

[a_real_viking]

"Sorry." Hiccup sat up and tucked the metal leg underneath the seat. "I'm usually not so...'Hey look at my leg!' Normally I walk pretty well but I tried a new design and, yeah, looks pretty idiotic."

There were a lot of things to mourn, but being sad about his leg wasn't going to reassemble it from ashes.

[youlosetrack]

Mace sits back in his seat, small smile on his lips. "Kinda does, yeah. Mind if I ask how that happened?"

[a_real_viking]

"Epic dragon battle," Hiccup quipped. Then he hid his metal leg with his booted one. "Well. That's most of the truth. I think? I was unconscious when the actual injury happened."

[youlosetrack]

It's a good thing Mace has had Shari explain the various ways life on Tabula Rasa is going to trip him up. He blinks, quiet for a moment as he tries to figure out whether the kid is telling the truth about dragon battles.

"You lost your leg in a dragon battle?"

[a_real_viking]

Hiccup nodded, leaning over the arm of his seat to look up at Toothless, who made himself visible from the shadows to peer at him.

"Dragons are...really common where I'm from. And not always friendly. This guy saved me from losing more though.g"

[youlosetrack]

Mace looks up into the trees, not really processing the sudden dark shape in the shadows.

"That's a dragon," he says calmly, not entirely frightened or shocked, but not taking it in stride, either. It's a rare feeling for him, and once Mace isn't sure how to handle.

[a_real_viking]

Toothless seemed to notice the stranger's odd trepidation and chose to acknowledge it by climbing slowly from the tree, rather than leaping down impressively. He even politely curled up to sit.

"He came with me when I first showed up."

[youlosetrack]

There are plenty of animals Mace has never laid eyes on, but those had all been gradually led to extinction as the sun died. Dragons had never existed in the first place, that much he knew.

He sits up in his seat, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his thighs. "He's yours?"

[a_real_viking]

Why did they always assume that Hiccup had conquered Toothless somehow, even as the dragon stared at them with obvious smarts.

"He's...my friend. I mean, he's not a pet or anything. If I made him mad, I'd know it. You know?"

[youlosetrack]

No, Mace doesn't know. He stares at the dragon, still trying to reconcile the appearance of such a mythical creature in the world he's slowly grown to believe is real. "So dragons are just...normal, where you're from?"

[a_real_viking]

"Yeah. I guess it's sort of unusual though. Most people were like, 'Hey! That's a dragon! What's going on?' But I grew up with them." Hiccup figured that now was a bad time he'd known them mostly as enemies on first encounter. Why complicate an introduction?

[youlosetrack]

"Kinda unusual," Mace agrees, still keeping his eyes on the dragon. He's moved from confusion to fascination, wishing he could just hop back up on both feet and walk over to it.

Probably not the best idea around a dragon.

"Does it have a name?"